The environment ministry said in an official statement that an Egyptian team started to monitor the waters of the Mediterranean Sea’s North Coast in an attempt to help a fin whale leave the shallow waters and guide it back to its natural habitat,according to Al-Ahram, a state-owned newspaper.
Al-Ahram reported the ministry as saying that the team was dispatched Thursday after reports and videos emerged of the whale on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Marina Compound.
Videos of the whale swimming in Marina at the North Coast water, a famous touristic resort to most of the Egyptian public, have been circulated over the social media causing a great fear among the people.
According to eyewitnesses, the appearance of the whale caused some concern among swimmers, particularly when it leaped out of the water.
Hamada Goueida, a real-estate broker from the area said, “The whale is pretty small. It jumped out of the water. People nearby panicked and most were then afraid to go back into the water.”
Beaches of the North Coast are currently busy this time of the year as Egyptians are celebrating the Islamic Eid Al-Fitr feast.
In fact, the presence of the whale too close to the shore has scared beachgoers, especially after a shark attacked an Egyptian man swimming six kilometers offshore in the Red Sea’s Al-Sokhna last month.
Moreover, a rare sperm whale washed ashore in the Red Sea’s Matrouh governorate in May which makes it not a random coincidence.
On the other side, the environment ministry tried to calm the Egyptian public and beachgoers from other nationalities saying that the Fin whales are an endangered species that are known to reside in Egyptian waters. Unprovoked, fin whales are harmless to humans, the ministry’s statement added.
The environment ministry concluded the statement by emphasizing that all whales registered as inhabiting the Egyptian waters don’t pose any danger to mankind.
At the same time, the ministry urged holidaymakers that, if faced with an encounter with a whale, not to act aggressively towards it or disturb it in any way.
